The Joys of Competition

Well, the short list is as far as I got this time. From over 1300 entries to 37 on the short list and then down to 5 finalists! I really had fun imagining my painting featured on a wine bottle and being on display in the Liquor Store for all to see! I will definitely give it another try next year! Although I am disappointed, I am happy and proud to have made it as far as I did!

I have one little photo to add to this post. Linocuts have been calling to me and I tried one last week. It is quite crude but I will hack away at it and give it one more go. After purchasing some new blades and lino (the ones I used were about 15 years old) I will try it again. It takes a bit of thought to be thinking about negative space. I am comfortable with the direct methods of drypoint and etchings but I know with some practice the linocuts will work for me.

There is an International Mini Print Exhibition coming up this spring and I am itching to get started on some new prints! I love entering juried competitions - it keeps me on my toes!

Good News

This morning I received some really good news. A few months ago, I had entered some images of my printmaking in a contest run by the Hillebrand Winery in southern Ontario for labels for their 'Artist's Series' of wines.

From over 1300 entries the jurors selected a 'short list' of 37 entries and my "Textures of Life #1" was one of them.

I am very excited and nervous as now I will wait on pins and needles until the judges choose the winning 12 entries.

The last few months have been very stressful and upsetting so I am very grateful for some good news!

Evolution of a Canvas

After months of trying to paint something on canvas, which I find extremely difficult as I am more of a paper person, I finally settled on this end result of Sunflowers. When I look back at the stages this poor little 12" x 12" canvas went through I really like Stage 1. Somehow, I can be very spontaneous and loose when working with paper but seize up completely when trying to paint on canvas.

Abstracts have been my main focus for quite a while but I find myself wanting to do some work that is more recognizable for a change.

I have decided to do a series of Sunflowers, inspired by one lonely little plant that grew for me this year out of many, many seeds planted. This is the first and I am working on #2 which is a 24" x 12" canvas to be followed by some larger and some smaller. There will also be some etchings, maybe drypoints and collagraphs as well. I hope I can stay in the sunflower groove!

There are also two more loose landscapes to finish which are in the same vein as the one in my previous post. That should keep me busy for a while!

Strange Summer

Where to start - The weather, of course! We have had no summer, for the second year in a row. A day here and there, mostly rain. We also had a disaster hit and narrowly almost miss us in the form of way too much rain all at once - 5 to 6 inches of rain in an hour and a half on July 24th. As a result, we had the house to the east of us evacuated because of slope failure, and two to the left of us as well. Our property suffered minor damage and has now been repaired but it has been a very stressful month and will not be totally over until all the other properties have been repaired as well.

Needless to say, making art was not in the cards. I did manage to finish (I think) a mixed media painting and am hoping to do a few more in the same vein in the coming weeks.

Coming so close to the kind of catastrophes normally seen only on the evening news certainly has a very sobering effect on the psyche. I find myself having a hard time focusing these days, although dabbling away to finish this one did help and I'm sure that starting some more paintings will be good therapy.

Happy News!

I know it's been a very long time since my last entry but a summer cold had me down for 3 weeks and I mean totally incapacitated!

First, my good news. I just found out today that one of my prints - the ones shown in my last post, was accepted into the 2009 International Juried Print Exhibition. There were 169 entries from around the world and 80 prints were selected. The jurors selected one print from most artists and two each from the two major prize winners. Needless to say, I am very happy and proud to be a part of this inaugural show at the beautiful new Shenkman Arts Centre here in Ottawa. The show will run from July 9 to August 30.

Now for my not-so-good news. The Art-2009 International Art Show in Toronto last month was a bit of an organizational disaster. The hall was filled with amazing art from a wide range of countries such as Australia, Israel, Ireland, Korea, Canada and many others. Unfortunately for all, the organizer was not very well organized so the setting up and taking down was very tedious and stressful and to top that off, the show didn't have many visitors.

For my part, it was a good learning process. I now know what to look for before committing to out-of-town shows and what to expect. I did have a great time with my artist friends discovering new restaurants, shopping and talking (one of my favourites). I met a lot of new people and discovered more exhibition possibilites in Toronto to check out.

When I came home from that adventure I participated in a wonderful 5-day workshop with Gerald Brommer, a well known artist and art teacher from California. He was a delight and filled our heads with information each day. It's always fun to learn new techniques and I am looking forward to creating some new works incorporating the methods learned in the workshop in the next few weeks.

A Pair of Prints for Jury

These two plates were inked at the same time to be a pair in harmonious colours (3 hours spent inking, wiping and running two prints). I am pleased with the result and will set them aside as possibilities for entry into the 2009 International Print Exhibition to take place at the new Shenkman Arts Centre here in Ottawa this July.

Outside to garden now for the weekend and back to trying out some new colour combinations (analagous) on Monday.

It's amazing how time actually does fly! A whole month has gone by since my last blog entry.

I ran a print today and will do another one tomorrow as I am not thrilled with this one. It might be able to work as mixed media. I haven't been printing for quite a while and spent a total of 3 hours on the ink mixing, application, rubs, printing and clean up. Now that the weather is getting nicer I find it difficult to spend the time this way but there is a new show I want to try and get juried in to and the deadline is June 5 for two prints! This is the 2009 International Print Exhibition and this juried show will be held at the new Shenkman Arts Centre co-inciding with their opening this summer. It would be a thrill to be able to take part in the inaugural showing at the new gallery.

I also have been accepted to show work in another gallery and have been busy cutting mats and framing and will deliver work to them next week. It is called 'Artemisia' in Westport, Ontario and I look forward to the next year with them.

I will have to be very careful with my time management in the next two months. I am almost ready for the Manotick Art Association Spring Show taking place the May 1st weekend with the artwork done, framing done except for paper backing, hooks and wires and then just need to make up an inventory list and price tags.

If I get two good prints in the next two weeks I will send them in for jury and see what happens.

Then there's the Art-2009 show in Toronto to get ready for. I want to make two more collages for that show and maybe one more collagraph.

The gardening will get done in small stages as a breather in between the art stuff. Why does everything always happen at once?

The Progression of #2

When I look back at all the stages of this attempt to do a 'series' from a painting that had been completed a few weeks earlier I realize what not to do next time. I'm thinking it would be a whole lot easier to have an idea first of all and then to begin two or three at the same time and work on them simultaneously.

I struggled to finish this one because I was thinking too much. My usual way of working is not to think at all and just let the painting evolve and that is why, after thinking my way to #4 above I became very unhappy and indecisive and when that happens, out comes the gesso! I almost covered up my three flowers but at the last minute decided to try and save them.

The resulting painting is in a much higher key but they are about winter turning into spring so I might not tone it down (but then again, after a few days I might change my mind and mute the colours a bit). Anyway, it is done.

Now on to complete the two vase paintings!

Working in a Series - Stage 2

Day 2 - I have put my flowers in place and decided where the frozen ground will be as well as the green areas. Tomorrow morning I will finish those two areas and then work on the outer collage some more. I hope to be finished with this one by the late afternoon. When I can put the two canvases up side by side or one over the other I will be able to see if a third will work.

I am now taking my painting apron off and putting my cooking one on!

Working in a Series

My very frustrating efforts of the past few months got an affirmation last week in the form of a critique. I brought my canvas that I thought was finished to a critique session with a well known Ottawa art teacher and contemporary artist to get some comments so that I could see if my direction was worth continuing and what areas needed improving. To my surprise there was not one negative comment on my experiment and a suggestion that I should consider working in a series.

After spending some time on the internet looking for ideas on how exactly to do a series of work, I got started this morning. Since my first canvas turned into some odd little flowers wanting to pop up through the frozen ground the second one is to be the next step in the gradual thaw of spring. I am thinking of the circle of the seasons and the changes that occur with each day. Even though I am looking out of my window at ice and snow on the river I can hear a change with the birds that come to my feeder. The cardinals are singing and starting to stake out their territories. There are a lot more squirrels now running about and my dog wants to be outside all day to chase them.

I am also trying to finish two 12" square canvases that turned out to be flowers in vases - a series of two.

Once I get these practice ones done I will pick a theme, choose some sizes and start another series which, I am feeling, just might be flowers and gardens, abstract, of course. That's what happens to my brain after looking at ice and snow for 4 months!

I am excited about my attempts at collaging and painting together on a canvas support. It's amazing what a tiny bit of positive reinforcement can do for the creative spirit!

Thinking of Spring (Subconsciously)

I have said all I need to say in the first one here - turns out my subconscious is wanting Spring very badly. Strange flower images appeared on the canvas and ghostly little flowers waiting to pop up through the frozen ground.

I don't know what is going on in the second one - needs more work! I am finding it difficult to unclutter my mind lately and it definitely is showing up on the page. Keep on working!!!!

Workshop Play

This past weekend I enjoyed two more days of play and experimentation in a workshop setting. The objective was to apply paint randomly using a variety of tools and try to find shapes to begin a painting. All participants had a large amount of difficulty finding any shapes and the level of frustration could be felt and heard in the room (heavy sighs, lots of scraping and dry-brushing noises).

It was interesting to see how people react to trying to learn a different way of doing something. Many people, including myself, after working away for a few hours and getting nowhere, simply reverted to their old, comfortable methods. For me, that was applying collage papers to try to get some shapes going. The first painting shown here was done the first two days of the workshop when I was not seeing any shapes appear on my canvas. I simply started to collage and found a way to begin. I will paint the small white shapes green to tie in with the green already there and maybe darken it a bit. I'm not sure what will happen to the grey shape, it may get darker or lighter.

The second painting was done on the last day of the class, when, with a degree of frustration, I decided to give it one more try and randomly stamped, scraped and rolled reds on and then blues. I stepped back with my chalk and looked for shapes. With the help of our leader I did see a vase or flower pot which, of course, meant that I needed some flowers. I drew loosely with chalk and then painted the negative shapes. I did get something but didn't like it and wiped the chalk away intending to apply white gesso over the canvas and start yet again. I kind of like what is on there enough to try and make something out of it just to see what happens. It may change into a vase or even a potted plant, time will tell.

And then, it may just get gessoed over! It is play and experimentation after all!

Stage 2

Today I worked on this canvas a bit more and the other three a bit also. This weekend I will try to finish at least one.

Possibilities

I am thinking that finally I might be on the right track! The struggles of the past month or so seem to be coming together for me and I feel positive about continuing with this method of painting/collaging on canvas. The first canvas is just starting to come to life so I thought I would do a few more in the same vein while the mood is right. More posts to come in the next few days as I develop these further.

Another White Day

It has been snowing here almost every day for a few weeks and getting very boring. I seem to gravitate to bright colours even more than usual at these times.

I have just completed (I think) two collages using papers I have made myself. The first one I had posted already but I have made a few changes and will enhance the line work at the bottom once I get some more black liquid acrylic.

It's been fun to do - I love playing with ripping up paper! There's nothing better for loosening up!

This weekend I am attending a workshop on composition and design so next week should bring some new thoughts into play!

Back in the Saddle Again

I have neglected my little blog lately for many reasons, but the important one is that I am ready to start creating again!

Sometimes disappointments get the better of me and I become unable to focus for a while. That's enough whining for now.

I am interested in painting and collaging on canvas in order to create larger works and also to get away from the framing (the time involved and the cost). I have always been a paper artist, using pen and ink, pastel, watercolour and collage and am having an extreme amount of difficulty making anything half decent with paint and brush!

Recently I spent weeks working on a 24" x 36" canvas going over and over with paint, all the while just getting more and more frustrated. The final straw saw me in my pj's at 5:30 a.m. removing all the staples and rolling the canvas up and putting it out for garbage pick-up!

After that fiasco, I went back to playing with paper, staining, stamping and then making a small collage (10" x 14" on matcard). I am relatively pleased with the results and will make a few more.

The next step is to try to duplicate the method on canvas and use papers and paint.

I'm hoping I am pointed in the right direction - time will tell!